I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5557 

To amend the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 to authorize the Attorney General, in coordination with the Administrator of 

the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Secretary of Health and 

Human Services, and the Director of the Office of National Drug Control 

Policy, to award grants to covered entities to establish or maintain 

disposal sites for unwanted prescription medications, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 18, 2018 

Ms. BONAMICI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act 

of 2016 to authorize the Attorney General, in coordination with the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement 

Administration, the Secretary of Health and Human 

Services, and the Director of the Office of National Drug 

Control Policy, to award grants to covered entities to 

establish or maintain disposal sites for unwanted prescription medications, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Disposal of 

3 Opioids Act of 2018’’. 

4 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR DISPOSAL SITES FOR UNWANTED PRE5 SCRIPTION MEDICATIONS. 

6 Section 203 of the Comprehensive Addiction and Re7 covery Act of 2016 (21 U.S.C. 822a) is amended by add8 ing at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(c) GRANTS FOR DISPOSAL SITES FOR UNWANTED

10 PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) GRANTS.— 

12 ‘‘(A) AWARDS.—In carrying out subsection 

13 (b), the Attorney General shall award grants to 

14 covered entities to establish or maintain dis15 posal sites for unwanted prescription medica16 tions. 

17 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—Of the total amount of 

18 awards under subparagraph (A) for a fiscal 

19 year, the Attorney General shall not award 

20 more than 10 percent to covered entities that 

21 are— 

22 ‘‘(i) State, local, or tribal law enforce23 ment agencies; or 

24 ‘‘(ii) manufacturers, distributors, or 

25 reverse distributors of prescription medica26 tions. 


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1 ‘‘(2) DISCOUNTS FOR ELIGIBLE PATIENTS.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of 

3 Health and Human Services shall establish a 

4 mechanism by which amounts paid by an eligi5 ble patient for an active opioid are discounted 

6 at time of payment or purchase to ensure that 

7 such patient does not pay any amount attrib8 utable to a fee under paragraph (3), with as lit9 tle burden on the patient as possible. 

10 ‘‘(B) DEFINITION.—For purposes of sub11 paragraph (A), the term ‘eligible patient’ 

12 means— 

13 ‘‘(i) a patient for whom any active 

14 opioid (as so defined) is prescribed to treat 

15 pain relating to cancer or cancer treat16 ment; 

17 ‘‘(ii) a patient participating in hospice 

18 care; and 

19 ‘‘(iii) in the case of the death or inca20 pacity of a patient described in subpara21 graph (A) or (B) or any similar situation 

22 as determined by the Secretary of Health 

23 and Human Services, the appropriate fam24 ily member, medical proxy, or similar rep25 resentative or the estate of such patient. 


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1 ‘‘(3) FEES.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—There is hereby im3 posed on the sale of any active opioid by the 

4 manufacturer, producer, or importer a fee equal 

5 to 1 cent per 100 milligrams so sold. 

6 ‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULES.— 

7 ‘‘(i) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, 

8 the term ‘active opioid’— 

9 ‘‘(I) means any controlled sub10 stance (as defined in section 102 of 

11 the Controlled Substances Act, as in 

12 effect on the date of the Safe Disposal 

13 of Opioids Act of 2018) which is 

14 opium, an opiate, or any derivative 

15 thereof; and 

16 ‘‘(II) excludes any prescribed 

17 drug which is used exclusively for the 

18 treatment of opioid addiction as part 

19 of a medically assisted treatment ef20 fort. 

21 ‘‘(ii) EXCLUSION OF OTHER INGREDI22 ENTS.—In the case of a product that in23 cludes an active opioid and another ingre24 dient, subparagraph (A) shall apply only to 


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1 the portion of such product that is an ac2 tive opioid. 

3 ‘‘(4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

4 For fiscal year 2019 and each subsequent fiscal 

5 year, there is authorized to be appropriated to carry 

6 out this subsection an amount not to exceed the ag7 gregate amount of the fees collected pursuant to 

8 paragraph (3).’’. 

Æ 


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